LATE NIGHTS ON AIR

Elizabeth Hay's LATE NIGHTS ON AIR, based on her experience working for CBC Radio in Canada's far north, is a novel animated by its characters rather than its plot. Such a work of fiction asks a lot from its narrator, and Paul Hecht succeeds well in giving individual voices to the motley cast. His dry delivery is particularly well suited to Harry, the burned-out journalist, though he's less successful as Harry's love interest, the beguiling Dido Paris. (Admittedly, she would be a challenge for any narrator, given that she has a Dutch-accented voice that Hay describes as "like a tarnished silver spoon.") Despite Hecht's skills in characterization, however, his languid narration serves to further decelerate the slow pace of the novel. D.B. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2009]